Long Beach teens charged with murder, attempted murder for shooting man in front of 12-year-old girl

LONG BEACH — Prosecutors on Friday filed murder charges against three local teens, including a 15-year-old boy who is being charged as an adult, in the shooting death of a 20-year-old Long Beach man killed in front of a 12-year-old girl.

Alleged gunman Montreal Hill, 19, Eric Hubbard, 18, and Deshawn Brittman, who will turn 16 on Sunday, were formally charged Friday at the Long Beach Superior Court with first-degree murder and an allegation that the killing was carried out for the benefit of their gang, court documents say.

The accused were also charged with the attempted murder of the little girl, a relative of the victim who the Press-Telegram has chosen not to identify for her safety, according to the criminal complaint filed Friday.

The three teens, all from Long Beach, were arrested the day after Gerardo Palencia's slaying.

Officers called to the area of Seventh Street and Rose Avenue at about 8:50 p.m. Tuesday found Palencia on the ground with a gunshot wound to the upper torso, said Sgt. Aaron Eaton, a Long Beach Police Department spokesman.

Palencia was rushed to a local hospital where he later died, the sergeant said.

The preliminary investigation found Palencia was walking in the area alongside the 12-year-old girl, who was riding her scooter, and they had just passed three suspects who were leaving a business in the area of Gaviota Avenue and Seventh Street when the confrontation occurred.

The girl was just steps in front of Palencia when the suspects demanded to know what gang the victim belonged to, Eaton said.

The victim didn't respond and tried to rush the little girl out of the area, but the suspects followed them on their bicycles and caught up to Palencia just before Rose Avenue, the sergeant said.

"One of the suspects, without provocation, produced a firearm and shot at the victim multiple times," Eaton said.

The trio then fled the area while the 12-year-old girl, who was in the line of fire but who wasn't hit, ran into a nearby business for help, authorities said.

Barbara Mepham-Cervantes posted on the Press-Telegram website that Palencia was deaf and that she used to interpret sign language for him when he was a middle school student. According to her Facebook profile, she is a retired sign language interpreter with Long Beach Unified School District.

"He was a good person, smart, funny and always happy," she wrote. "He had such a positive attitude about life. He did not deserve what happened to him. I pray for his family."

School district officials couldn't be reached late Friday afternoon to confirm Mepham-Cervantes' past position with the LBUSD.

The three teens charged with Palencia's slaying said little during their arraignment at the Long Beach Courthouse, which was postponed until Oct. 18. None of the teens entered a plea Friday.

Brittman, the 15-year-old whose name was withheld earlier in the week by police because he is a minor, was charged as an adult, prosecutors said. If convicted on all counts, he and the other two defendants could face life in prison without parole.

Palencia's death is one of six shootings, three of which resulted in fatalities, that erupted over the same week-long period in Long Beach.

Ashley Sampson of Long Beach was shot by two male suspects Thursday night as Sampson sat on a friend's front porch in the 600 block of Lime Avenue.

Relatives said Sampson was 28 years old, while police listed his age at 33. The father of five lived not far from the East Village neighborhood where he was killed, friends and family said.

Estuaredo Rodriguez, 19, of Long Beach, may have been the victim of gang violence when he was gunned down the night of Sept. 21 near Seventh and Chestnut Avenue, police said.

Two people were shot Wednesday, though both survived, with one victim hit at about 9:25 p.m. in the area of Ninth Street and Chestnut Avenue and another victim, who was shot in the 1200 block of Magnolia Avenue near Drake Park, police said.

The third shooting occurred at about 10:30 p.m. on Sept. 20 in the 1200 block of Magnolia Avenue.

No arrests have been made in those attacks, Eaton said Friday.

Anyone with information about any of the slayings is urged to call the Homicide Detail at 562-570-7244. Anonymous tips can be made via text or email at www.tipsoft.com.